Carnaval Poster 2010

In October 2009 I saw an flyer for a competition to paint a poster to advertise the local Carnaval. I had a friend in a bar at that time, who was a mine of information about old Olvera. Together we concocted a poster that would show Olvera at the turn of the century and the Carnaval games they played. This was pre-Franco, when Spain had a zest for life and living that had not been dulled by the terrible civil war years.
The poster was based on the fact that before pipes had been laid in the streets of Olvera the water was delivered in earthenware jars called cántaros. The jars of water were delivered by horse and cart around the streets. After the pipes were laid in the village around 1914 the jars were no longer needed. Water was on tap in every house.

The game in the streets at Carnaval time was to toss a full jar of water between a group of people and see who dropped it first. If you dropped it, you were out. They had an abundance of empty useless jars.
I have felt the weight of these jars when they are full of water and this game is not easy.
Buns, cakes and biscuits would be brought out, all made by the families in the street. A swing was strung between the windows of houses across the street and the children queued to have a ride.
As I painted this picture I was guided and advised by my friend and half of the people in the bar. The end result was that I entered and won the competition.
Without the help of my Spanish friends I could not have won.
For a week I was famous in Olvera and even had a standing ovation in the theatre when I was applauded for my contribution to Carnaval week.
To see all of the pictures on artistandalucia click here

In the year following I was at a street party when modern, but slightly smaller, Canteros were brought out for the children to throw to each other with adults, just like their great grand parents did.
This was just before Chirigota when groups of local people don fancy dress and sing very critical songs about their government and country.
In England we have dull party political broadcasts. In America the flash candidates debate on TV.
 In Andalucia  people sing their hearts out with poetry set to music wearing the most outrageous original costumes. This is how politics should be done! Viva Espana!
   
Chirigota in Andalucia is a huge subject and deserves much more time. I will save it for later.    

The Garganta Verde

The Garganta Verde is the hidden jewel in the  Grazelema National Park.

You must obtain permission to take this walk. This can be ordered from the Grazelema Tourist office.
Tel.956 132 052 or by email.
The walk starts at a car park off the CA531 which is the winding road that climbs out of Zahara
to Grazelema. There is a car park and a little wooden kiosk, which should have a ranger to check your permit to walk. The cutbacks in manning means that there is rarely anybody there.
 
From the  highest point of Cadiz province, El Torreon,  you can look down 1300m into
the valley below and if you know where to look you will see a dark cleft that is the exit point for the rainwater and occasional meltwater from the huge massif of El torreon.
This is the Garganta verde. As the huge limestone fold was eroded over millenia the waters found suberrrainian channels through the limestone on their eternal quest to reach the sea. As with all Karstic landscapes, cave systems are the norm. The Garganta Verde is an old system that collapsed when it's roof was eroded away and fell into the cavities below.

To reach the bottom of the system you have to descend a staircase around 150m high. It is arduous and not for the faint of heart. I have taken friends to the top of this descent and they have baulked at the prospect of going down into the depths and returned to their cars. Good boots are a must and take lots of water.
The whole distance covered is less than 4 km down and back up.
The first part of the descent is easy enough and a pleasant walk along a path frequented by friendly goats. High above on an outcrop of pink limestone is a colony of Leonardo Buitres. Vultures!

They patrol the paths here with a vigilance which boarders on obsession. When you climb out of the gorge after the staircase you will want to rest and drink a little water. If you sit still and rest in the warm sunshine you will inevitably doze a little. Within seconds you will hear a swish overhead and look up to see a vulture with a  five foot wingspan  ten feet above your head checking  your vital signs with a view to a kill.
When I was a paraglider pilot I remember a friend telling me that as he was driving to a flying site near  Teba when he came around a bend on the road to find a vulture with it’s beak hooked into a road-killed goat with wings spread out walking backwards dragging the goat off the road the better to eat it. Make sure you keep moving.

In my early years I did this walk alone, which was very dangerous. Deep in this ravine there is no telephone signal. Break a leg here and there would be no rescue unless you told somebody before you left where you were going and when to expect you back. To stand in the bottom of this place alone listening to the cries of the vultures high above is a frightening and very spiritual thing. In the dry riverbed you will have to scramble over metre diameter boulders with saplings growing between them.

When you have scrambled about 50 metres there is a cave undercut into the rock and a notice explaining about the collapsed cave system. There are trees here, which are clearly ten years or more old that prove that no water has flowed here in that space of time. The huge rounded boulders testify that it once did flow, and with considerable force. Clearly, the water has moved to a lower level and has created another cave system below the Garganta Verde. The water is still flowing because it comes out much lower down and joins the Rio Guadalete.

                                        The cave is about the size of a house on a bend in the riverbed.

        Just past the cave the walls become sheer and daunting. At this point they are 30metres high. (100ft.)

This is as far as you can go without specialized climbing equipment because the boulders become huge and impassable.
The return is back up the way you came down and it's a steep climb with the vultures watching for any sign of weakness.